For those who care about their security online there are a range of tools to assist you in staying safe online, none are more effective than a physical security key. FIDO are by far the most prevalent security key standard available and today Google has announced OpenSK, an open sourced platform for developing Fido U2F and FIDO 2 security keys.
Google is promoting OpenSK as a ‘research platform’ to promote innovation and progress within the security key space. There is however nothing stopping anyone from actually building a FIDO compliant security key using the platform. The software is only half the story however as Google has partnered with Nordic Chip Dongle to use their reference design as the base building board for the platform.
Being open source Google is hoping that the community with both use and contribute back to the project allowing for rapid iteration. From a consumer side I don’t expect to see a bunch of OpenSK devices hit the market this year at MWC. What just may happen however is an increasing standardisation and innovation in the security authentication space, and that is good for everyone.
